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Sophomore Austin Abbott gears up for the Moutin Pacific Indoor Track and Field Championships.

Go Huskies.com: How big of an accomplishment was running a sub four minute mile for you?Austin Abbott: 'Pretty big, not that many people have done that. It is something that I can hold on to forever.'

Go Huskies.com: Was this an accomplishment you have aimed towards for a long time?Austin Abbott:'Yeah, about the end of the last indoor season I started thinking been thinking about it.'

Go Huskies.com: When did you know that you could break the four minute mark?Austin Abbott:'My coaches told me over the summer that they were setting up a race for me to try to do it. They set up the race and fortunately I was able to do it during the race just as planned.'

Go Huskies.com: It seemed like the field went through the first quarter a little fast, did that worry you?Austin Abbott: 'Not really, I heard a lot of times but I didn't really pay attention to them. There were so many people racing the whole time, I was just trying to run my race.'

Go Huskies.com: What kind of training have you done during the winter?Austin Abbott:'No not really, I trained pretty much the same as last year.'

Go Huskies.com: Have you started to taper yet? Austin Abbott: 'No, I won't start tapering until the end of the spring.'

Go Huskies.com: Are you planning on running the mile at the NCAA Championships? Austin Abbott: 'I don't think so, I think that we will run the DMR.'

Go Huskies.com: Is that the team's focus, running the DMR? Austin Abbott: 'We are going to Notre Dame next weekend to try to qualify , and I think that we will. If we don't qualify , I will run the mile.

Go Huskies.com: What are the team's chances of qualifying? Austin Abbott: 'Pretty good, it would take something bad for us not to qualify. That is the only time we are going to run it, we have to run a certain time to get into the NCAA Championships.'

Go Huskies.com: You placed second as a freshman in the 1,500 meters at last year's Pac-10 meet. Does that give you confidence going into Saturday's mile? Austin Abbott: 'I beat a lot of guys that I didn't know, and they were really good. It was a big deal to me, being able to run that well.'

Go Huskies.com: What are your goals for the upcoming 2006 outdoor season:Austin Abbott: 'I would like to win a Pac-10 Championship, like Ryan (Brown). Other than that I would like to be an All-American in outdoor track because it is something that I have not done yet.'